YouTube JavaScript Player API Reference

Deprecation NoticeThe deprecation of the YouTube JavaScript Player API was announced on January 27, 2015. YouTube Flash <object> embeds have also been deprecated. See the deprecation policy for more information. Please migrate your applications to the IFrame API, which can intelligently use whichever embedded player – HTML (<video>) or Flash (<object>) – the client supports.

The JavaScript API allows users to control the YouTube chromeless or embedded video players via JavaScript. Calls can be made to play, pause, seek to a certain time in a video, set the volume, mute the player, and other useful functions.

Requirements

The end user must have Flash Player 10.1 or higher installed to view everything correctly. Because of this requirement, we suggest using SWFObject to embed the SWF and detect the user's Flash Player version.

In addition, any HTML page that contains the YouTube player must implement a JavaScript function named onYouTubePlayerReady. The API will call this function when the player is fully loaded and the API is ready to receive calls. See the Event Handlers section for more details.

Embedded players must have a viewport that is at least 200px by 200px. If the player displays controls, it must be large enough to fully display the controls without shrinking the viewport below the minimum size. We recommend 16:9 players be at least 480 pixels wide and 270 pixels tall.

Getting Started

Note: To test any of these calls, you must have your file running on a webserver, as the Flash player restricts calls between local files and the internet.

You can enable the JavaScript API handlers for chromeless and embedded players. To enable the JavaScript API for a player, add the URL parameter enablejsapi=1 to the player's URL.

Enabling the JavaScript API for a chromeless player

If your application is using a chromeless player, use the following URL to load the player in your application and enable JavaScript API handlers in the player. You can then build your own custom player controls using JavaScript:

http://www.youtube.com/apiplayer?enablejsapi=1&version=3

Enabling the JavaScript API for an embedded player

Use the following URL to load an embedded video player. In the URL, replace the string VIDEO_ID with the 11-character YouTube video ID that identifies the video that the player will show.

http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID?version=3&enablejsapi=1

When the player is ready, the API will call the onYouTubePlayerReady callback function. You can use the optional playerapiid parameter to the player URL to pass a value, such as the player ID, back to the callback function.

The Player API demo lets you compare the chromeless and embedded video players, and the examples below provide more detailed information about how to embed a YouTube player SWF into your page. You can also customize your users' experience by using player parameters to control various types of player behavior.

Operations

In order to call the player API methods, you must first get a reference to the player object you wish to control. If you are using SWFObject to embed the player SWF, you can obtain the reference to the player object by calling getElementById() on the <object> or <embed> tag that contains the player SWF.

Functions

Queueing functions

Queueing functions allow you to load and play a video, a playlist, or another list of videos. If you are using the object syntax described below to call these functions, then you can also queue or load a list of search results or a user's list of uploaded videos.

The API supports two different syntaxes for calling the queueing functions.

The argument syntax requires function arguments to be listed in a prescribed order.

The object syntax lets you pass an object as a single parameter and to define object properties for the function arguments that you wish to set. In addition, the API may support additional functionality that the argument syntax does not support.

For example, the loadVideoById function can be called in either of the following ways. Note that the object syntax supports the endSeconds property, which the argument syntax does not support.

This function loads the specified video's thumbnail and prepares the player to play the video. The player does not request the FLV until playVideo() or seekTo() is called.

The required videoId parameter specifies the YouTube Video ID of the video to be played. In YouTube Data API video feeds, the <yt:videoid> tag specifies the ID.

The optional startSeconds parameter accepts a float/integer and specifies the time from which the video should start playing when playVideo() is called. If you specify a startSeconds value and then call seekTo(), then the player plays from the time specified in the seekTo() call. When the video is cued and ready to play, the player will broadcast a video cued event (5).

The optional endSeconds parameter, which is only supported in object syntax, accepts a float/integer and specifies the time when the video should stop playing when playVideo() is called. If you specify an endSeconds value and then call seekTo(), the endSeconds value will no longer be in effect.

The optional suggestedQuality parameter specifies the suggested playback quality for the video. Please see the definition of the setPlaybackQuality function for more information about playback quality.

The required videoId parameter specifies the YouTube Video ID of the video to be played. In YouTube Data API video feeds, the <yt:videoid> tag specifies the ID.

The optional startSeconds parameter accepts a float/integer. If it is specified, then the video will start from the closest keyframe to the specified time.

The optional endSeconds parameter accepts a float/integer. If it is specified, then the video will stop playing at the specified time.

The optional suggestedQuality parameter specifies the suggested playback quality for the video. Please see the definition of the setPlaybackQuality function for more information about playback quality.

This function loads the specified video's thumbnail and prepares the player to play the video. The player does not request the FLV until playVideo() or seekTo() is called.

The required mediaContentUrl parameter specifies a fully qualified YouTube player URL in the format http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID?version=3. In YouTube Data API video feeds, the <media:content> tag's url attribute contains a fully qualified player URL when the tag's format attribute has a value of 5.

The optional startSeconds parameter accepts a float/integer and specifies the time from which the video should start playing when playVideo() is called. If you specify startSeconds and then call seekTo(), then the player plays from the time specified in the seekTo() call. When the video is cued and ready to play, the player will broadcast a video cued event (5).

The optional endSeconds parameter, which is only supported in object syntax, accepts a float/integer and specifies the time when the video should stop playing when playVideo() is called. If you specify an endSeconds value and then call seekTo(), the endSeconds value will no longer be in effect.

The optional suggestedQuality parameter specifies the suggested playback quality for the video. Please see the definition of the setPlaybackQuality function for more information about playback quality.

The required mediaContentUrl parameter specifies a fully qualified YouTube player URL in the format http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID?version=3. In YouTube Data API video feeds, the url attribute of the <media:content> tag contains a fully qualified player URL when the tag's format attribute has a value of 5.

The optional startSeconds parameter accepts a float/integer and specifies the time from which the video should start playing. If startSeconds (number can be a float) is specified, the video will start from the closest keyframe to the specified time.

The optional endSeconds parameter, which is only supported in object syntax, accepts a float/integer and specifies the time when the video should stop playing.

The optional suggestedQuality parameter specifies the suggested playback quality for the video. Please see the definition of the setPlaybackQuality function for more information about playback quality.

Queueing functions for lists

The cuePlaylist and loadPlaylist functions allow you to load and play a playlist or list of videos. If you are using object syntax to call these functions, you can also queue (or load) a list of search results or a user's list of uploaded videos.

Since the functions work differently depending on whether they are called using the argument syntax or the object syntax, both calling methods are documented below.

The optional index parameter specifies the index of the first video in the playlist that will play. The parameter uses a zero-based index, and the default parameter value is 0, so the default behavior is to load and play the first video in the playlist.

The optional startSeconds parameter accepts a float/integer and specifies the time from which the first video in the playlist should start playing when the playVideo() function is called. If you specify a startSeconds value and then call seekTo(), then the player plays from the time specified in the seekTo() call. If you cue a playlist and then call the playVideoAt() function, the player will start playing at the beginning of the specified video.

The optional suggestedQuality parameter specifies the suggested playback quality for the video. Please see the definition of the setPlaybackQuality function for more information about playback quality.

Queues the specified list of videos. The list can be a playlist, a search results feed, or a user's uploaded videos feed. When the list is cued and ready to play, the player will broadcast a video cued event (5).

The optional listType property specifies the type of results feed that you are retrieving. Valid values are playlist, search, and user_uploads. The default value is playlist.

The required list property contains a key that identifies the particular list of videos that YouTube should return.

If the listType property value is playlist, then the list property specifies the playlist ID or an array of video IDs. In YouTube Data API feeds, the <yt:playlistid> tag specifies a playlist ID, and the <yt:videoid> tag specifies a video ID.

If the listType property value is search, then the list property specifies the search query.

If the listType property value is user_uploads, then the list property identifies the user whose uploaded videos will be returned.

The optional index property specifies the index of the first video in the list that will play. The parameter uses a zero-based index, and the default parameter value is 0, so the default behavior is to load and play the first video in the list.

The optional startSeconds property accepts a float/integer and specifies the time from which the first video in the list should start playing when the playVideo() function is called. If you specify a startSeconds value and then call seekTo(), then the player plays from the time specified in the seekTo() call. If you cue a list and then call the playVideoAt() function, the player will start playing at the beginning of the specified video.

The optional suggestedQuality property specifies the suggested playback quality for the list's videos. Please see the definition of the setPlaybackQuality function for more information about playback quality.

The optional index parameter specifies the index of the first video in the playlist that will play. The parameter uses a zero-based index, and the default parameter value is 0, so the default behavior is to load and play the first video in the playlist.

The optional startSeconds parameter accepts a float/integer and specifies the time from which the first video in the playlist should start playing.

The optional suggestedQuality parameter specifies the suggested playback quality for the video. Please see the definition of the setPlaybackQuality function for more information about playback quality.

This function loads the specified list and plays it. The list can be a playlist, a search results feed, or a user's uploaded videos feed.

The optional listType property specifies the type of results feed that you are retrieving. Valid values are playlist, search, and user_uploads. The default value is playlist.

The required list property contains a key that identifies the particular list of videos that YouTube should return.

If the listType property value is playlist, then the list property specifies a playlist ID or an array of video IDs. In YouTube Data API feeds, the <yt:playlistid> tag specifies a playlist ID, and the <yt:videoid> tag specifies a video ID.

If the listType property value is search, then the list property specifies the search query.

If the listType property value is user_uploads, then the list property identifies the user whose uploaded videos will be returned.

The optional index property specifies the index of the first video in the list that will play. The parameter uses a zero-based index, and the default parameter value is 0, so the default behavior is to load and play the first video in the list.

The optional startSeconds property accepts a float/integer and specifies the time from which the first video in the list should start playing.

The optional suggestedQuality property specifies the suggested playback quality for the list's videos. Please see the definition of the setPlaybackQuality function for more information about playback quality.

Playback controls and player settings

Playing a video

player.playVideo():Void

Plays the currently cued/loaded video. The final player state after this function executes will be playing (1).

Note: A playback only counts toward a video's official view count if it is initiated via a native play button in the player.

player.pauseVideo():Void

Pauses the currently playing video. The final player state after this function executes will be paused (2) unless the player is in the ended (0) state when the function is called, in which case the player state will not change.

player.stopVideo():Void

Stops and cancels loading of the current video. This function should be reserved for rare situations when you know that the user will not be watching additional video in the player. If your intent is to pause the video, you should just call the pauseVideo function. If you want to change the video that the player is playing, you can call one of the queueing functions without calling stopVideo first.

Important: Unlike the pauseVideo function, which leaves the player in the paused (2) state, the stopVideo function could put the player into any not-playing state, including ended (0), paused (2), video cued (5) or unstarted (-1).

player.seekTo(seconds:Number, allowSeekAhead:Boolean):Void

Seeks to a specified time in the video. If the player is paused when the function is called, it will remain paused. If the function is called from another state (playing, video cued, etc.), the player will play the video.

The seconds parameter identifies the time to which the player should advance.

The player will advance to the closest keyframe before that time unless the player has already downloaded the portion of the video to which the user is seeking. In that case, the player will advance to the closest keyframe before or after the specified time as dictated by the seek() method of the Flash player's NetStream object. (See Adobe's documentation for more information.)

The allowSeekAhead parameter determines whether the player will make a new request to the server if the seconds parameter specifies a time outside of the currently buffered video data.

We recommend that you set this parameter to false while the user drags the mouse along a video progress bar and then set it to true when the user releases the mouse. This approach lets a user scroll to different points of a video without requesting new video streams by scrolling past unbuffered points in the video. When the user releases the mouse button, the player advances to the desired point in the video and requests a new video stream if necessary.

Playing a video in a playlist

player.nextVideo():Void

This function loads and plays the next video in the playlist.

If player.nextVideo() is called while the last video in the playlist is being watched, and the playlist is set to play continuously (loop), then the player will load and play the first video in the list.

If player.nextVideo() is called while the last video in the playlist is being watched, and the playlist is not set to play continuously, then playback will end.

player.previousVideo():Void

This function loads and plays the previous video in the playlist.

If player.previousVideo() is called while the first video in the playlist is being watched, and the playlist is set to play continuously (loop), then the player will load and play the last video in the list.

If player.previousVideo() is called while the first video in the playlist is being watched, and the playlist is not set to play continuously, then the player will restart the first playlist video from the beginning.

player.playVideoAt(index:Number):Void

This function loads and plays the specified video in the playlist.

The required index parameter specifies the index of the video that you want to play in the playlist. The parameter uses a zero-based index, so a value of 0 identifies the first video in the list. If you have shuffled the playlist, this function will play the video at the specified position in the shuffled playlist.

Changing the player volume

player.mute():Void

Mutes the player.

player.unMute():Void

Unmutes the player.

player.isMuted():Boolean

Returns true if the player is muted, false if not.

player.setVolume(volume:Number):Void

Sets the volume. Accepts an integer between 0 and 100.

player.getVolume():Number

Returns the player's current volume, an integer between 0 and 100. Note that getVolume() will return the volume even if the player is muted.

Setting the playback rate

player.getPlaybackRate():Number

This function retrieves the playback rate of the currently playing video. The default playback rate is 1, which indicates that the video is playing at normal speed. Playback rates may include values like 0.25, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2.

player.setPlaybackRate(suggestedRate:Number):Void

This function sets the suggested playback rate for the current video. If the playback rate changes, it will only change for the video that is already cued or being played. If you set the playback rate for a cued video, that rate will still be in effect when the playVideo function is called or the user initiates playback directly through the player controls. In addition, calling functions to cue or load videos or playlists (cueVideoById, loadVideoById, etc.) will reset the playback rate to 1.

Calling this function does not guarantee that the playback rate will actually change. However, if the playback rate does change, the onPlaybackRateChange event will fire, and your code should respond to the event rather than the fact that it called the setPlaybackRate function.

The getAvailablePlaybackRates method will return the possible playback rates for the currently playing video. However, if you set the suggestedRate parameter to a non-supported integer or float value, the player will round that value down to the nearest supported value in the direction of 1.

Note: Even though the AS3 player supports playback rate controls, variable speeds are currently only supported in the HTML5 player.

player.getAvailablePlaybackRates():Array

This function returns the set of playback rates in which the current video is available. The default value is 1, which indicates that the video is playing in normal speed.

The function returns an array of numbers ordered from slowest to fastest playback speed. Even if the player does not support variable playback speeds, the array should always contain at least one value (1).

Setting playback behavior for playlists

player.setLoop(loopPlaylists:Boolean):Void

This function indicates whether the video player should continuously play a playlist or if it should stop playing after the last video in the playlist ends. The default behavior is that playlists do not loop.

This setting will persist even if you load or cue a different playlist, which means that if you load a playlist, call the setLoop function with a value of true, and then load a second playlist, the second playlist will also loop.

The required loopPlaylists parameter identifies the looping behavior.

If the parameter value is true, then the video player will continuously play playlists. After playing the last video in a playlist, the video player will go back to the beginning of the playlist and play it again.

If the parameter value is false, then playbacks will end after the video player plays the last video in a playlist.

player.setShuffle(shufflePlaylist:Boolean):Void

This function indicates whether a playlist's videos should be shuffled so that they play back in an order different from the one that the playlist creator designated. If you shuffle a playlist after it has already started playing, the list will be reordered while the video that is playing continues to play. The next video that plays will then be selected based on the reordered list.

This setting will not persist if you load or cue a different playlist, which means that if you load a playlist, call the setShuffle function, and then load a second playlist, the second playlist will not be shuffled.

If the parameter value is true, then YouTube will shuffle the playlist order. If you instruct the function to shuffle a playlist that has already been shuffled, YouTube will shuffle the order again.

If the parameter value is false, then YouTube will change the playlist order back to its original order.

Playback status

player.getVideoLoadedFraction():Float

Returns a number between 0 and 1 that specifies the percentage of the video that the player shows as buffered. This method returns a more reliable number than the now-deprecated getVideoBytesLoaded and getVideoBytesTotal methods.

player.getPlayerState():Number

Returns the state of the player. Possible values are:

-1 – unstarted

0 – ended

1 – playing

2 – paused

3 – buffering

5 – video cued

player.getCurrentTime():Number

Returns the elapsed time in seconds since the video started playing.

player.getVideoStartBytes():Number

Deprecated as of October 31, 2012. Returns the number of bytes the video file started loading from. (This method now always returns a value of 0.) Example scenario: the user seeks ahead to a point that hasn't loaded yet, and the player makes a new request to play a segment of the video that hasn't loaded yet.

player.getVideoBytesLoaded():Number

Deprecated as of July 18, 2012. Instead, use the getVideoLoadedFraction method to determine the percentage of the video that has buffered.

Returns the number of bytes loaded for the current video.

player.getVideoBytesTotal():Number

Deprecated as of July 18, 2012. Instead, use the getVideoLoadedFraction method to determine the percentage of the video that has buffered.

Returns the size in bytes of the currently loaded/playing video or an approximation of the video's size.

Specifically, this function will approximate the total size of the video when the value of player.getVideoStartBytes() is greater than zero. The function needs to approximate the video's size because the video's actual size is only communicated to the player when the video starts from the beginning.

Playback quality

player.getPlaybackQuality():String

This function retrieves the actual video quality of the current video. Possible return values are highres, hd1080, hd720, large, medium and small. It will also return undefined if there is no current video.

player.setPlaybackQuality(suggestedQuality:String):Void

This function sets the suggested video quality for the current video. The function causes the video to reload at its current position in the new quality. If the playback quality does change, it will only change for the video being played. Calling this function does not guarantee that the playback quality will actually change. However, if the playback quality does change, the onPlaybackQualityChange event will fire, and your code should respond to the event rather than the fact that it called the setPlaybackQuality function.

The suggestedQuality parameter value can be small, medium, large, hd720, hd1080, highres or default. We recommend that you set the parameter value to default, which instructs YouTube to select the most appropriate playback quality, which will vary for different users, videos, systems and other playback conditions.

When you suggest a playback quality for a video, the suggested quality will only be in effect for that video. You should select a playback quality that corresponds to the size of your video player. For example, if your page displays a 1280px by 720px video player, a hd720 quality video will actually look better than an hd1080 quality video. We recommend calling the getAvailableQualityLevels() function to determine which quality levels are available for a video.

The list below shows the playback quality levels that correspond to different standard player sizes. We recommend that you set the height of your video player to one of the values listed below and that you size your player to use 16:9 aspect ratio. As stated above, even if you choose a standard player size, we also recommend that you set the suggestedQuality parameter value to default to enable YouTube to select the most appropriate playback quality.

small: Player height is 240px, and player dimensions are at least 320px by 240px for 4:3 aspect ratio.

medium: Player height is 360px, and player dimensions are 640px by 360px (for 16:9 aspect ratio) or 480px by 360px (for 4:3 aspect ratio).

large: Player height is 480px, and player dimensions are 853px by 480px (for 16:9 aspect ratio) or 640px by 480px (for 4:3 aspect ratio).

hd720: Player height is 720px, and player dimensions are 1280px by 720px (for 16:9 aspect ratio) or 960px by 720px (for 4:3 aspect ratio).

hd1080: Player height is 1080px, and player dimensions are 1920px by 1080px (for 16:9 aspect ratio) or 1440px by 1080px (for 4:3 aspect ratio).

highres: Player height is greater than 1080px, which means that the player's aspect ratio is greater than 1920px by 1080px.

default: YouTube selects the appropriate playback quality. This setting effectively reverts the quality level to the default state and nullifies any previous efforts to set playback quality using the cueVideoById, loadVideoById or setPlaybackQuality functions.

If you call the setPlaybackQuality function with a suggestedQuality level that is not available for the video, then the quality will be set to the next lowest level that is available. For example, if you request a quality level of large, and that is unavailable, then the playback quality will be set to medium (as long as that quality level is available).

In addition, setting suggestedQuality to a value that is not a recognized quality level is equivalent to setting suggestedQuality to default.

player.getAvailableQualityLevels():Array

This function returns the set of quality formats in which the current video is available. You could use this function to determine whether the video is available in a higher quality than the user is viewing, and your player could display a button or other element to let the user adjust the quality.

The function returns an array of strings ordered from highest to lowest quality. Possible array element values are highres, hd1080, hd720, large, medium and small. This function returns an empty array if there is no current video.

Your client should not automatically switch to use the highest (or lowest) quality video or to any unknown format name. YouTube could expand the list of quality levels to include formats that may not be appropriate in your player context. Similarly, YouTube could remove quality options that would be detrimental to the user experience. By ensuring that your client only switches to known, available formats, you can ensure that your client's performance will not be affected by either the introduction of new quality levels or the removal of quality levels that are not appropriate for your player context.

Retrieving video information

player.getDuration():Number

Returns the duration in seconds of the currently playing video. Note that getDuration() will return 0 until the video's metadata is loaded, which normally happens just after the video starts playing.

If the currently playing video is a live event, the getDuration() function will return the elapsed time since the live video stream began. Specifically, this is the amount of time that the video has streamed without being reset or interrupted. In addition, this duration is commonly longer than the actual event time since streaming may begin before the event's start time.

player.getVideoUrl():String

Returns the YouTube.com URL for the currently loaded/playing video.

player.getVideoEmbedCode():String

Returns the embed code for the currently loaded/playing video.

Retrieving playlist information

player.getPlaylist():Array

This function returns an array of the video IDs in the playlist as they are currently ordered. By default, this function will return video IDs in the order designated by the playlist owner. However, if you have called the setShuffle function to shuffle the playlist order, then the getPlaylist() function's return value will reflect the shuffled order.

player.getPlaylistIndex():Number

This function returns the index of the playlist video that is currently playing.

If you have not shuffled the playlist, the return value will identify the position where the playlist creator placed the video. The return value uses a zero-based index, so a value of 0 identifies the first video in the playlist.

If you have shuffled the playlist, the return value will identify the video's order within the shuffled playlist.

Adding or removing an event listener

player.addEventListener(event:String, listener:String):Void

Adds a listener function for the specified event. The Events section below identifies the different events that the player might fire. The listener is a string that specifies the function that will execute when the specified event fires.

player.removeEventListener(event:String, listener:String):Void

Removes a listener function for the specified event. The listener is a string that identifies the function that will no longer execute when the specified event fires.

Events

onStateChange

This event fires whenever the player's state changes.
The value that the API passes to your event listener function will specify an integer that corresponds to the new player state.
Possible values are:

-1 (unstarted)

0 (ended)

1 (playing)

2 (paused)

3 (buffering)

5 (video cued).

When the player first loads a video, it will broadcast an unstarted (-1) event. When a video is cued and ready to play, the player will broadcast a video cued (5) event. In your code, you can specify the integer values or you can use one of the following namespaced variables:

YT.PlayerState.ENDED

YT.PlayerState.PLAYING

YT.PlayerState.PAUSED

YT.PlayerState.BUFFERING

YT.PlayerState.CUED

onPlaybackQualityChange

This event fires whenever the video playback quality changes. For example, if you call the setPlaybackQuality(suggestedQuality) function, this event will fire if the playback quality actually changes. Your application should respond to the event and should not assume that the quality will automatically change when the setPlaybackQuality(suggestedQuality) function is called. Similarly, your code should not assume that playback quality will only change as a result of an explicit call to setPlaybackQuality or any other function that allows you to set a suggested playback quality.

The value that the API passes to the event listener function will be a string that identifies the new playback quality.
Possible values are:

small

medium

large

hd720

hd1080

highres

onPlaybackRateChange

This event fires whenever the video playback rate changes. For example, if you call the setPlaybackRate(suggestedRate) function, this event will fire if the playback rate actually changes. Your application should respond to the event and should not assume that the playback rate will automatically change when the setPlaybackRate(suggestedRate) function is called. Similarly, your code should not assume that the video playback rate will only change as a result of an explicit call to setPlaybackRate.

The value that the API passes to the event listener function will be a number that identifies the new playback rate.
The getAvailablePlaybackRates method returns a list of the valid playback rates for the currently cued or playing video.

Note: Even though the AS3 player supports this event, variable speeds are currently only supported in the HTML5 player.

onError

This event fires if an error occurs in the player.
The value that the API passes to the event listener function will be an integer that identifies the type of error that occurred.
Possible values are:

2 – The request contains an invalid parameter value. For example, this error occurs if you specify a video ID that does not have 11 characters, or if the video ID contains invalid characters, such as exclamation points or asterisks.

100 – The video requested was not found. This error occurs when a video has been removed (for any reason) or has been marked as private.

101 – The owner of the requested video does not allow it to be played in embedded players.

150 – This error is the same as 101. It's just a 101 error in disguise!

onApiChange

This event is fired to indicate that the player has loaded (or unloaded) a module with exposed API methods. Your application can listen for this event and then poll the player to determine which options are exposed for the recently loaded module. Your application can then retrieve or update the existing settings for those options.

The following command retrieves an array of module names for which you can set player options:

player.getOptions();

Currently, the only module that you can set options for is the cc module, which handles closed captioning in the player. Upon receiving an onApiChange event, your application can use the following command to determine which options can be set for the cc module:

player.getOptions('cc');

By polling the player with this command, you can confirm that the options you want to access are, indeed, accessible. The following commands retrieve and update module options:

This option adjusts the font size of the captions displayed in the player.

Valid values are -1, 0, 1, 2, and 3. The default size is 0, and the smallest size is -1. Setting this option to an integer below -1 will cause the smallest caption size to display, while setting this option to an integer above 3 will cause the largest caption size to display.

cc

reload

This option reloads the closed caption data for the video that is playing. The value will be null if you retrieve the option's value. Set the value to true to reload the closed caption data.

Event Handlers

Your HTML pages that display the chromeless player must implement a callback function named onYouTubePlayerReady. The API will call this function when the player is fully loaded and the API is ready to receive calls.

onYouTubePlayerReady(playerid)

Called when the player is fully loaded and the API is ready to receive calls. If a playerapiid is passed into the player via URL arguments, then it will be passed to this function.

Examples

Embedding the YouTube player using SWFObject

We recommend using SWFObject to embed any players that will be accessed using the JavaScript API. This will allow you to detect the end user's Flash Player version (the JavaScript API requires Flash Player 8 or higher), and also will get rid of the 'Click to activate this control' box when using Internet Explorer to view the player.
To enabled the API in the SWF, you must pass in the parameter enablejsapi=1.

See below for an example of using the script to embed a YouTube player with the JavaScript API enabled, and with a playerapiid of ytplayer.

swfUrlStr - This is the URL of the SWF. Note that we have appended the enablejsapi and playerapiid parameters to the normal YouTube SWF URL to enable JavaScript API calls.

replaceElemIdStr - This is the HTML DIV id to replace with the embed content. In the example above, it is ytapiplayer.

widthStr - Width of the player.

heightStr - Height of the player.

swfVersionStr - The minimum required version for the user to see the content. In this case, version 8 or above is needed. If the user does not have 8 or above, they will see the default line of text in the HTML DIV.

xiSwfUrlStr - (Optional) Specifies the URL of your express install SWF. Not used in this example.

flashVarsObj - (Optional) Specifies your FlashVars in name:value pairs. Not used in this example.

parObj - (Optional) The parameters for the embed object. In this case, we've set allowScriptAccess.

AttObj - (Optional) The attributes for the embed object. In this case, we've set the id to myytplayer.

Subscribing to Events

Subscribe to events by adding an event listener to the player reference. For example, to get notified when the player's state changes, add an event listener for onStateChange and include a callback function.

Revision history

January 6, 2016

The clearVideo function has been deprecated and removed from the documentation. The function no longer has any effect in the YouTube player.

March 9, 2015

The document has been updated with a deprecation notice. YouTube <object> embeds, the YouTube Flash Player API and the YouTube JavaScript Player API have all been deprecated as of January 27, 2015. See the deprecation policy for more information. Please migrate your applications to the IFrame API, which can intelligently use whichever embedded player – HTML (<video>) or Flash (<object>) – the client supports.

April 28, 2014

March 25, 2014

This update contains the following changes:

The Requirements section has been updated to note that embedded players must have a viewport that is at least 200px by 200px. If a player displays controls, it must be large enough to fully display the controls without shrinking the viewport below the minimum size. We recommend 16:9 players be at least 480 pixels wide and 270 pixels tall.

October 31, 2012

This update contains the following changes:

The Queueing functions section has been updated to explain that you can use either argument syntax or object syntax to call all of those functions. Note that the API may support additional functionality in object syntax that the argument syntax does not support.

When called using object syntax, each of the video queueing functions supports an endSeconds property, which accepts a float/integer and specifies the time when the video should stop playing when playVideo() is called.

The getVideoStartBytes method has been deprecated. The method now always returns a value of 0.

August 6, 2012

This update contains the following changes:

The API supports several new functions and one new event that can be used to control the video playback speed. However, note that variable playback speeds are currently only supported in the HTML5 player.

Functions

getAvailablePlaybackRates – Retrieve the supported playback rates for the cued or playing video. Note that variable playback rates are currently only supported in the HTML5 player.

getPlaybackRate – Retrieve the playback rate for the cued or playing video.

March 26, 2012

This update contains the following changes:

The Requirements section has been updated to note the minimum player size. Embedded players must have a viewport that is at least 200px by 200px. If the player displays controls, it must be large enough to fully display the controls without shrinking the viewport below the minimum size. We recommend 16:9 players be at least 480 pixels wide and 270 pixels tall.

December 21, 2011

This update contains the following changes:

The Requirements section has been updated to note that the end user must have Flash Player 10.1 or higher installed for the player to display everything correctly.

December 19, 2011

The object syntax lets you pass an object as the only argument to a function. The object's properties specify the function arguments that you wish to set.

The cuePlaylist and loadPlaylist functions both support additional functionality when called using the object syntax. Specifically, when using the object syntax, you can use both functions to retrieve either a playlist, a list of search results, or a list of a user's uploaded videos. If you are using the argument syntax, you can only retrieve a playlist.

To support this functionality, the object syntax defines a listType property that can be used to specify whether the player is retrieving a playlist, a list of search results, or a list of a user's uploaded videos. The object's list property then specifies the playlist ID, search query, or username that identifies the desired feed.

To properly reflect this functionality, the Queueing functions for playlists section has been renamed to Queueing functions for lists. Within that section, the cuePlaylist and loadPlaylist functions are each defined twice to explain how to call each function using either the argument syntax or the object syntax.

December 5, 2011

This update contains the following changes:

The definition of the seekTo function has been updated to indicate that if the player is paused when the function is called, the player will remain paused after the function executes.

November 17, 2011

The definition of the mediaContentUrl argument for each function has been updated to note that the value must specify the version parameter. As such, the argument's value must be a fully qualified YouTube player URL in the format http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID?version=3.

Both functions support a suggestedQuality parameter. This parameter specifies the suggested playback quality for the video.

The definition of the setSize function has been removed from the documentation. If you are using the JavaScript Player API, the player will automatically resize if the height and width properties of the containing elements in the embed code are modified. Since the setSize function does not currently alter the size of those containing elements, it is unlikely to have the expected effect.

The definition of the getDuration function has been updated to explain that if the currently playing video is a live event, the function will return the elapsed time since the video stream began.

July 29, 2011

This update contains the following changes:

The following API functions have been added to support playlist players:

The cuePlaylist function loads the thumbnail image for the first video in the specified playlist and prepares the player to play the playlist. However, the player does not request the video until your application calls either the playVideo, playVideoAt, or seekTo function.

The getPlaylist function plays the currently cued playlist. The final player state after this function executes will be playing (1).

The getPlaylistIndex function returns the position in which the current video appears in the playlist. The first video will have a position of 1, the second video will have a position of 2, and so forth.

The nextVideo function instructs the player to load and play the next video in the playlist.

The previousVideo function instructs the player to load and play the previous video in the playlist.

The playVideoAt function instructs the player to load and play a specific video in the playlist.

The setLoop function lets you dynamically instruct the player to continuously play the playlist or, alternately, to sto playing after the playlist has played all of the videos in the playlist.

The setShuffle function instructs YouTube to play the videos in the playlist in random order (or to play them in their designated order.

February 17, 2011

This update contains the following changes:

If you link to the Player Parameters document from this document, the page will now display parameters supported in any version of the player. You can use the pulldown menu in the Overview section of that document to only see parameters supported in the AS3 player (or in the HTML5 or AS2) players.

February 3, 2011

This update contains the following changes:

The definition of the playVideo function has been updated to note that YouTube only counts playbacks that are initiated through a native play button in either the embedded or chromeless player.

If you link to the Player Parameters document from either the link in the Getting started section or from this paragraph, the page will initially only display parameters supported in the AS3 player. You can use the pulldown menu in the Overview section of that document to see parameters supported in other players (HTML5 or AS2) or all parameters.